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I have long said that the real reason for the international space station is to give Russia cover to keep their space engineers working. That is unemployed ex-soviet space engineers are are vulnerable to evil dictators offering them a job designing ICBMs (when you have no money/food moral considerations are less important)

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That was part of it though I think space engineers would never have been unemployed or out of food - just reassigned to much more boring projects. Russia also has ways of ahem "discouraging" unauthorised trade of military secrets.

With China's ICBMs, aren't they already advanced enough that collaborating on space exploration with NASA won't teach them much ICBM technology that they don't already know?

I think the ICBM utility has been played out. The new concern seems to be defense of space in and of itself. Exhibit A: Fearless Leader pushing through the Space Force creation. New field, new theater of war, new way to line defense contractor's pockets.

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